Cross-scope synchronization of data item knowledge and corresponding metadata

ABSTRACT

The subject disclosure relates to cross scope synchronization among different sets of nodes that synchronize the same data item(s) according to different synchronization scopes. In one aspect, create and update versions are defined for a scope in which a data item was created and updated, respectively, and create and update versions are defined for a local node shared for different groups of nodes synchronizing according to the different synchronization scopes (e.g., a server node).

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject disclosure relates to synchronizing data items acrossdifferent endpoints having different scopes of synchronization, and tocorresponding maintaining and updating of metadata associated with thecross-scope synchronization.

BACKGROUND

The popularity of mobile computing and communications devices hascreated a corresponding wish for the ability to deliver and receiveinformation whenever wanted by users. Put simply, users want ubiquitousaccess to information and applications from a variety of devices,wherever, whenever, and whatever the devices' capabilities, and inaddition, users want to be able to access and update such information onthe fly, and they want guarantees that the data is as correct and up todate as can be.

There are a variety of distributed data systems that attempt to havedevices and objects share replicas of data with one another. Forinstance, music sharing systems may synchronize music between a PC, aCell phone, a gaming console and an MP3 player. Email data may besynchronized among a work server, a client PC, and a portable emaildevice. However, today, to the extent such devices synchronize a set ofcommon information with each other, the synchronization takes placeaccording to a static setup among the devices. However, when thesedevices become disconnected frequently or intermittently, i.e., whenthey are loosely coupled such that they may become disconnected fromcommunicating with each other, e.g., when a cell phone is in a tunnel,or when the number of devices to be synchronized is dynamic, it becomesdesirable to have a topology independent way for the devices todetermine what changes each other device does not know when theyre-connect to one another, or as they join the network.

Today, as shown in FIG. 1, there are various examples where a masternode 100 synchronizes in a dedicated manner with a client node 110, suchas when an email server synchronizes with an email client. Due to thededicated synchronization between the two devices, the information 102used to synchronize between the two devices can be tracked by the masternode 100. Such information 102 can also optionally be tracked by clientnode 110 as well, however, when the connection between master node 100and client node 110 becomes disconnected at times, or when the number ofsynchronizing devices can suddenly increase or decrease, tracking thenecessary information of the common information that each device uses tosynchronize across all of those devices becomes a difficult problem.

Current solutions often base their synchronization semantics solely onclocks or logical watermarks for a specific node (e.g., the emailserver), as opposed to any node. These systems can work well in cases ofa single connecting node or master. However, they run into problems whenthe topology or pattern in which the nodes connect can changeunpredictably.

Other systems build proprietary synchronization models for specifickinds of data objects, tracking an enormous amount of primitive metadataspecific to the data format across the devices in order to handle theproblem. For instance, to synchronize objects of a particular Wordprocessing document format, a lot of overhead and complexity goes intorepresenting a document and its fundamental primitives as they changeover time, and representing that information efficiently to otherdevices wishing to synchronize according to a common set of Wordprocessing documents. In addition to such systems being expensive andcomplex to build and non-extendible due to the custom data format uponwhich they are based, such systems are inherently unscalable due tolarge amounts of metadata that must be generated, analyzed and tracked.

In addition, such solutions apply only to the one specific domain, e.g.,Word processing documents. When synchronization objects of all kinds areconsidered, e.g., pictures, videos, emails, documents, database stores,etc., one can see that implementing custom synchronization solutionsbased on each object type for tracking evolution of such objects acrossall devices in a multi-master environment is unworkable today.Accordingly, such solutions inextricably link synchronization semanticswith the data semantics.

Thus, there is a need for node-independent synchronization knowledgewhen computers in a topology change the way they connect to each otheror as the number of computers grows. For instance, with a media player,it might be desirable to synchronize among multiple computers andmultiple websites. In most instances, most applications can onlysynchronize data between a few well-known endpoints (home PC and mediaplayer). As the device community evolves over time for a user of themedia player application, however, the need for data synchronizationflexibility for the music library utilized by the devices increases,thereby creating the need for a more robust system.

The need becomes even more complex when one considers differing scopesof synchronization of items among various devices. In this regard, asynchronization scope defines what items, if any, are synchronized for agiven device and to what other devices. For instance, if an item isbeing synchronized across various devices and across varioussynchronization scopes among those devices, keeping track of changes tothat item becomes a complex problem. While for any given application, asdescribed above, logic can be hardwired to handle the problem ofdiffering scopes, a simple, topology independent solution eludes theart. While devices within a first scope have a view into which otherdevice within the first scope have made a given change, and thereforecan appreciate what changes require making or not making unto itself,changes originating from a device of another set of devices according toanother scope are not natively appreciated by the devices within thefirst scope without the introduction of massive amounts of metadata thatgrows unacceptably large over time and in proportion to the number ofother devices and different synchronization scopes for those devices.Accordingly, a way to limit the proliferation of this metadata would bedesirable.

The above-described deficiencies of today's synchronization systems aremerely intended to provide an overview of some of the problems ofconventional systems, and are not intended to be exhaustive. Otherproblems with conventional systems and corresponding benefits of thevarious non-limiting embodiments described herein may become furtherapparent upon review of the following description.

SUMMARY

A simplified summary is provided herein to help enable a basic orgeneral understanding of various aspects of exemplary, non-limitingembodiments that follow in the more detailed description and theaccompanying drawings. This summary is not intended, however, as anextensive or exhaustive overview. Instead, the sole purpose of thissummary is to present some concepts related to some exemplarynon-limiting embodiments in a simplified form as a prelude to the moredetailed description of the various embodiments that follow.

Various embodiments for synchronizing among different sets of nodes thatsynchronize the same data item(s) according to different synchronizationscopes are described herein that define create and update versions for ascope in which a data item was created and updated, respectively, anddefine create and update versions for a local node shared for differentgroups of nodes synchronizing according to the different synchronizationscopes (e.g., a server node as a non-limiting example).

In an exemplary method, a set of objects are synchronized between a nodeof a plurality of nodes and other node(s) communicatively coupled viaone or more networks, where at least two different synchronizationscopes apply to at least two different nodes of the plurality of nodes.The method includes determining first versioning information forobject(s) of the set of objects pertaining to a synchronization scopeapplicable to a set of nodes where the object(s) changed or werecreated, and determining second versioning information for the object(s)applicable to synchronization scope(s) of set(s) of nodes other than thesynchronization scope, and synchronizing the object(s) of the set ofobjects between the node and the other node(s) including determiningwhether to base the synchronizing on the first versioning information orthe second versioning information.

As another example, a method for defining metadata for synchronizingamong a plurality of devices and according to different synchronizationscopes for different sets of devices of the plurality of devicesincludes defining first versioning information for data of a firstcommunity of devices that changed the data under conditions of a firstscope defined for the first community of devices, and defining secondversioning information for the data for other devices of the pluralityof devices that are outside the first community of devices. In thisregard, synchronizing the data among at least two devices of theplurality of devices is then based on the first versioning informationor the second versioning information dependent on a present scope ofsynchronization applying to the at least two devices.

In another embodiment described in more detail below, a node connectableto a plurality of nodes via one or more networks and configured tosynchronize a set of data items between the node and other node(s) ofthe plurality of nodes includes a synchronization component configuredto synchronize the set of data items between the node and the othernode(s) and configured to synchronize data item(s) of the set of dataitems according to at least two different synchronization scopesapplying to at least two different groups of nodes of the plurality ofnodes and encompassing the data item(s) within respective scopes.

The synchronization component can include a synchronizationcommunications component configured to initiate synchronization with theother node(s) via a synchronization protocol that defines, independentof data type, metadata structure for a knowledge exchange between theother node(s) and the node, configured to transmit to the other node(s)a request to synchronize with the data item(s) within scope for theother node(s) based on the synchronization protocol and configured toreceive external knowledge of the data item(s) within the scope for theother node(s) and corresponding versioning information from the othernode(s), wherein the metadata structure for the knowledge exchangeincludes versioning information for the scope for the other node(s) andversioning information for nodes outside the scope.

The synchronization component can further include a synchronizationanalysis component configured to update local knowledge of the dataitem(s) represented on the node and corresponding node versioninginformation by comparing the external knowledge of the data item(s) andthe corresponding versioning information from the other node(s) with thelocal knowledge of the data item(s) and the corresponding nodeversioning information to determine what changes to reflect in revisedlocal knowledge of the data item(s) and the corresponding nodeversioning information.

These and other embodiments are described in more detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various non-limiting embodiments are further described with reference tothe accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a dedicated synchronization system that providessynchronization between two well defined endpoints of the system;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a non-limiting representativescenario in which different nodes of an overall group of nodessynchronize a subset of data items according to differentsynchronization scopes;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a first example where an item isupdated in the scope in which it was created, and illustrating asubsequent synchronization as a result;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a second example where an item isupdated in a different scope than the scope in which it was created, andillustrating a subsequent synchronization as a result;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary non-limiting metadatafor data items synchronized according to different scopes in anembodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary non-limiting processfor determining what metadata to use when synchronizing data itemssynchronized according to different synchronization scopes;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating another exemplary non-limitingprocess for synchronizing data items according to different scopes;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary non-limiting processfor defining metadata for data items according to different scopes;

FIG. 9 illustrates exemplary non-limiting knowledge exchange betweenfour nodes of a loosely connected network of nodes in accordance withthe invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates exemplary non-limiting knowledge exchange betweenfour nodes of a loosely connected network of nodes in accordance withthe invention when some of the devices become disconnected from oneanother;

FIGS. 11, 12 and 13 illustrate exemplary knowledge exchange in thecontext of multiple objects shared among nodes of a network inaccordance with the invention;

FIG. 14 is an exemplary non-limiting flow diagram illustrating theprocess for knowledge exchange in the context of multiple objects sharedamong nodes of a network in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 15 is a general architecture illustrating the framework forrequesting and conveying changes based on knowledge and partialknowledge in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of an exemplary non-limiting implementationof a device for performing a knowledge exchange in accordance with theinvention;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram representing exemplary non-limiting networkedenvironments in which various embodiments described herein can beimplemented; and

FIG. 18 is a block diagram representing an exemplary non-limitingcomputing system or operating environment in which one or more aspectsof various embodiments described herein can be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

A synchronization framework, as described herein in one or moreembodiments, defines a protocol for synchronizing data items across acollection of endpoints. Each unit of synchronization, called a ‘scope’,specifies the data that is to be synchronized among the collection ofendpoints. Endpoints interested in a particular set of data are added tothe ‘scope’ that contains that data. Endpoints within a scopesynchronize the same set of data amongst themselves, which is achievedby maintaining version information about the data being synchronized.

In this regard, it is not only possible, but also a quite frequentscenario where multiple scopes are maintained, for scopes to beoverlapping, meaning data on an endpoint can belong to more than onescope. For example, one scope could contain all data where State=‘WA’and another scope could be all the data where State=‘WA’ OR ‘CA’, or‘USA’. In this case, a change to the data received in one scope can bepropagated to other scopes that contain this data as well. For instance,in the foregoing examples, any change to a data item contained in theState=‘WA’ scope can be propagated with respect to the other, broaderscopes encompassing State=‘WA’ as well.

As discussed in the background, among other things, conventional systemsthat handle synchronization of the same data items existing in disparatesynchronization scopes, with no native understanding of one another'sdata, are typically hardwired to handle different changes, or they maytrack different versions for each item for every scope that exists, andfor all changes. In addition to storing voluminous amounts of data asthe data aggregates over time, processing overhead is unacceptable dueto the amount of metadata that must be resolved across different scopesfor different versions of the same data items.

In this regard, versioning of items can thus become expensive as itemsthat live in multiple scopes must each have a version for every scope inwhich they live, which leads to performance and storage issues as thenumber of scopes an item lives in grows. The various embodimentsdescribed herein in the subject disclosure thus present a simple andefficient way of addressing this problem.

Accordingly, in various non-limiting embodiments, synchronizing amongdifferent sets of nodes that synchronize the same data item(s) accordingto different synchronization scopes is achieved by defining create andupdate versions for a scope in which a data item was created andupdated, respectively, and defining create and update versions for alocal node shared for different groups of nodes synchronizing accordingto the different synchronization scopes (e.g., a server node as anon-limiting example).

This metadata enables a simple representation of a version for thecommunity of devices that know about a change made to a data item beingsynchronized as well as a simple representation of a version for thecommunity of devices that do not know about the change made to the dataitem, vis-à-vis a proxy version understood by a common endpoint to thedifferent synchronization scopes of the communities of devices.

Herein, an overview of some of the embodiments for achieving cross-scopesynchronization of loosely coupled devices has been presented above. Asa roadmap for what follows next, various exemplary, non-limitingembodiments and features are described in more detail with respect torepresenting efficient metadata under cross-scope circumstances forsynchronizing data items independent of device topology within a givenscope, and synchronizing according to the metadata. Then, somesupplemental context is given for a general mechanism for efficientlyrepresenting knowledge in multi-master data synchronization systems,followed by representative network and computing environments in whichsuch embodiments can be implemented.

Cross-Scope Synchronization of Data Item Knowledge

As mentioned, in various non-limiting embodiments, synchronizing amongdifferent sets of nodes that synchronize the same data item(s) accordingto different synchronization scopes is achieved by defining create andupdate versions for a scope in which a data item was created andupdated, respectively, and defining create and update versions for alocal node shared for different groups of nodes synchronizing accordingto the different synchronization scopes (e.g., a server node as anon-limiting example).

Instead of storing explicit versions for each item in each scope, theversions for scopes can be represented using two sets of versions,instead of as many versions as there are scopes. In this regard, on anendpoint that participates in multiple scopes where there is overlap atthe item level, the endpoint can represent the item using: 1) the scopeversion of the item in which it was created and most recently modifiedand 2) the local version of the item on the endpoint that participatesin multiple scopes.

This beneficially enables the ability to store only two sets of versionsto represent an item that lives in or is synchronized with respect toany number of scopes. These versions are then interpreted duringsynchronization relative to a present synchronization scope and thenaltered to represent the item correctly for scopes after synchronizingthe item. Based on the synchronization scope(s) assigned to an endpoint,the endpoint can be automatically configured based on a set ofapplication independent interfaces to represent and track this metadataproperly. In another aspect, after a database restore, the metadata maybe repaired in order to allow synchronization to continue, e.g., bymaking the metadata consistent with the time of restoration.

In this regard, to synchronize an item, two versions are typicallytracked for an item: a CREATE version and an UPDATE version, obviatingthe need to track every version of the data as part of the metadata. Foran endpoint that contains data that lives in multiple scopes, inaccordance with various embodiments described herein, two sets ofCREATE/UPDATE versions are thus stored for each item, as follows:

CREATE version for the scope in which the item was created

UPDATE version for the scope in which the item was most recently updated

CREATE version for the local endpoint

UPDATE version for the local endpoint

The first set are SCOPE versions that apply only to the scope in whichthe item was either created or updated. The second set are LOCALversions that are the versions for the item on the local endpoint itself(e.g., a node such as a server node that is shared among differentsynchronizing scopes).

In one implementation, a version contains a replica ID as well as atickcount to determine which endpoint operated on the item (using thereplica ID) and when this occurred (using the tickcount). For eachscope, the local endpoint that participates in multiple scopes has aunique replica ID for each scope.

In addition to the versions, to which scope the scope versions apply isalso tracked, which can be referred to as the SCOPE UPDATE ID and SCOPECREATE ID. Using this information, in one non-limiting implementation,the version of an item can be determined based on the followingcriteria:

If the SCOPE UPDATE ID is “NONE”, then this is a local change and theLOCAL UPDATE version is used along with the local replica ID for thescope being synchronized.

If the scope under which synchronization is occurring is not equal tothe SCOPE UPDATE ID, then the LOCAL UPDATE version is used for theupdate version of the item using the local replica ID for the scope.This means that for scopes that did not originate the change, the changewill look like a local change. The term local here is used to imply thatthe change will appear to a node of a scope that did not make the changeas if it is coming from a node of the scope through which the changetravels or from where the changes are sourced, e.g., the node that ispresenting the change within the given scope. For instance, where aserver (or other common node) is common to different scopes, the serveris the “local” entity that makes changes originating from differentscopes appear to have originated within the server. In this sense, todevices not within the scope under which the change occurred, asubstitute or proxy version is used as if the change came from a nodethat is commonly shared across scopes.

If the scope under which synchronization is occurring is equal to theSCOPE UPDATE ID, then the SCOPE UPDATE version is used for the updateversion of the item. In other words, when the devices have knowledge ofthe node that made the update, the local knowledge within scope can beused.

The above description applies to UPDATE versions, however a similarlogic applies to determining CREATE versions as well.

If the SCOPE CREATE ID is “NONE”, then this is a local create and theLOCAL CREATE version is used along with the local replica ID for thescope being synchronized.

If the scope under which synchronization is occurring is not equal tothe SCOPE CREATE ID, then the LOCAL CREATE version is used for thecreate version of the item using the local replica ID for the scope.This means that for scopes that did not create the item, the change willnonetheless look like a local create. Again the term local is used toimply that the create will appear to a node of a scope that did notcreate the item as if it is coming from a node of within that scope fromwhere the creation is sourced, e.g., the node that is presenting thecreated item within the given scope. For instance, where a server (orother common node) is common to different scopes, the server is the“local” entity that presents items created from different scopes makingthem appear to have originated locally within the server. In this sense,to devices not within the scope under which the item was created, asubstitute or proxy version is used as if the create came from a nodethat is commonly shared across scopes.

If the scope under which synchronization is occurring is equal to theSCOPE CREATE ID, then the SCOPE CREATE version is used for the createversion of the item. In other words, when the devices have knowledge ofthe node that created the item, the local knowledge within scope can beused.

This determination of versions is used to calculate changes that aresent to other endpoints in the scope, as well as to detect conflicts anddetermine the state of a row, as stored.

In one embodiment, when an endpoint makes a local change, the SCOPEUPDATE ID is set to “NONE” to reflect the fact that this change was madelocally (e.g., by a shared node such as the server) and can be sent toscopes in which this item lives. In such case, the LOCAL UPDATE versionis used because the change is actually made by the shared endpoint, andthus appearances need not be maintained that updates may have originatedelsewhere.

When an endpoint that lives in multiple scopes receives a change throughsynchronization, it records both its own local version and scope versionfor that item. If a conflict resolution occurs on an item, then thechange is altered to look like a local change in accordance with therules applied according to the overall synchronization frameworkdeployed. This enables conflict resolution to be synchronized withscopes in which that item lives.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a non-limiting representativescenario in which different nodes of an overall group of nodessynchronize a subset of data items according to differentsynchronization scopes. As shown in FIG. 2, a typical set of nodes mayinclude an intermediary device 200, which is shared across two or moresynchronizing scopes 210, 220, 230. For instance scope 210 may includesa set of nodes 200, 212 and 214 for which the synchronization scope isSales data=a specific state such as “Washington State”. Thus, thesenodes synchronize data items applicable to that specific state. Asanother example, another set of nodes 200, 222 and 224 may synchronizedata for which the synchronization scope is Sales data=Country such as“USA”. For another example, another set of nodes 200, 232 and 234 maysynchronize data for which the synchronization scope is Salesdata=World, i.e., including all countries. For the sake of this example,node 214 has a replica ID of A, node 222 has a replica ID of B and node200 has a replica ID of S.

Based on the setup of FIG. 2, FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating afirst example where an item is updated in the scope in which it wascreated, and illustrating a subsequent synchronization as a result. Asmentioned, node 200 is shared across the different scopes 210, 220 and230. In this example, to illustrate the way metadata is synchronizedaccording to the two different sets of versions for each data item, attime=t1, an item is created by node 222 in scope 220. With replica ID=B,the item is assigned version B4 at the time of creation. In accordancewith the various embodiments described herein, the item is also assigneda local version on device 200. With replica ID=S, the local version maybe S5, for example. Next, after time passes, the item may be updated attime=t17. Accordingly, depending on which node is synchronizing underwhat scope, a different version will be propagated. If node 224 issynchronizing, since node 224 has an understanding within scope 220 ofnode 222, the system ensures that node 224 receives the updated versionwithin the scope in which the update occurred, which in this example isB5. However, if either of nodes 212 or 214 are synchronizing, sinceneither node 212 nor node 214 understands the meaning of B5 as being outof scope, the local version (as updated from S5 to S6) is used insteadof B5, and sent to nodes 212 and 214. In this respect, from theperspective of nodes 212 and 214, it appears as if the update occurredat node 200. Similar updating would occur if the nodes 232 and 234 ofscope 230 were synchronizing, i.e., they also would receive the updateas S6.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a second example where an item isupdated in a different scope than the scope in which it was created, andillustrating a subsequent synchronization as a result. Similar to FIG.3, the item is created at t1 as B4 with local version on device 200represented as S5. Then, time passes and at time=t17, the item isupdated by node 214 as represented by update A10. In this regard, sincenode 212 is within scope with the updating node 214, node 212 alsoreceives the update as A10. From the perspective of node 222 and node224, which do not have an understanding of node 214 within scope 210,however, A10 does not have applicable meaning, and thus the localversion update of S15 is used instead (assuming S5 had evolved to S14prior to the update).

One additional case that is not shown is the case where device 200itself creates the item or makes the item. In such case, in oneembodiment, the scope ID for the create or update versions of themetadata is represented as none, null, or other signifier, indicatingthat the create or update version applies to all applicable scopes, andcan thus be used in synchronizing with such scopes.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary non-limiting metadatafor data items synchronized according to different scopes in anembodiment. As mentioned, per data item is represented for each dataitem having create/update versions both for the scope in which the itemwas created or updated and also corresponding versions, e.g., proxyversions, for the create or update as if originating locally by a devicecommon to multiple scopes. For instance, in the example of FIG. 4, adata item, e.g., data item 550, was created with a create scope version500 of B4 corresponding to a local create version 520 of S5. The scopecreate ID 560 for these is scope 220 (Sales=country). Data item 550 alsowas updated according to scope update ID 560 (Sales=State), and hasupdate scope version 510 with counterpart local update version 530 ofS15. As mentioned, this metadata is tracked for each data item 552, 554,etc. This metadata is then used whenever a synchronization operationtakes place to resolve the cross-scope issues that may result fromdifferent nodes synchronizing according to different scopes.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary non-limiting processfor determining what metadata to use when synchronizing data itemssynchronized according to different synchronization scopes. The processis applicable to both resolution of create and update versions. In thisregard, at 600, the item versions are determined from the metadata.Then, for the create versions or update versions as shown at 610, it isdetermined whether the version scope ID is specified at 620. This testinforms whether the item was created (or updated) on the shared node,e.g., server, in which case the local version of the shared node will beused at 650. If the item was not created (or updated) on the sharednode, then it is determined at 630 whether the version scope ID of theversion is the same as the scope for the current synchronization. If so,then the create (or update) version can be used at 640 for the scope inwhich the item was created (or updated). If the version scope ID of theversion is not the same as the scope for the current synchronization,then the local version of the shared node will be used at 650. For alarger synchronization, this process can be used for each data item asrepresented by 660, and when the larger synchronization finished, theprocess completes at 670.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating another exemplary non-limitingprocess for synchronizing data items according to different scopes. At700, first versioning information is determined for object(s) pertainingto a synchronization scope applicable to where the object(s) werechanged and/or created. At 710, second versioning information isdetermined for the object(s) applicable to synchronization scopes otherthan the synchronization scope. At 720, the object(s) are synchronizedbased on the first versioning information or the second versioninginformation depending on current scope for synchronizing.

At 730, if the current scope is the same as the synchronization scopeapplicable to the set of nodes where the at least one object at leastone of changed or was created, synchronization takes place based on thefirst versioning information. At 740, if the current scope is differentthan the synchronization scope applicable to the set of nodes where theat least one object at least one of changed or was created,synchronization takes place based on the second versioning information.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary non-limiting processfor defining metadata for data items according to different scopesaccording to another embodiment. At 800, first versioning information(created and updated) is defined for data of a first community ofdevices that changed the data under conditions of a first scope definedfor the first community of devices. At 810, second versioninginformation (created and updated) is defined for the data for otherdevices of the plurality of devices that are outside the first communityof devices. At 830, the data is synchronized among two or more devicesof the plurality of devices based on the first versioning information orthe second versioning information depending on a present scope ofsynchronization applying to the two or more devices.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of an exemplary non-limiting implementationof a device 1600 for performing a knowledge exchange as describedherein. As shown, device 1600 can include a sync module 1620 thatperforms the knowledge exchange techniques for synchronizing a set ofobjects 1630 with another device. Sync module 1620 may include a synccommunications module 1622 for generally transmitting and receiving datain accordance with the knowledge exchange techniques of the invention.

Sync module 1620 may also include a sync initiation module 1624 whichmay initiate synchronization with a second device if authorized, e.g.,via authorization module 1640, and connected to the second device. Syncmodule 1620 may also include an I/O module 1626 responsive to theinitiation of synchronization by sending knowledge 1602 about the set ofobjects 1630 to the second device (not shown) and for receiving backknowledge 1612 of the second device and changes to be made to the set ofobjects 1630 originating from the second device. As described herein,knowledge 1602 can include create versions 1604 and update versions 1606as well as scope version information 1607 concerning where theapplicable action (create or update) occurred as well as localversioning information 1608 for use in connection with other scopes. Inturn, a sync analysis module 1624 operates to apply the changes to bemade to the set of objects 1630 and to compare knowledge 1612 from thesecond device with the knowledge 1602 of the first device 1600 in orderto determine changes to send to the second device to completesynchronization between the devices.

The various embodiments described herein enable a synchronizationframework and corresponding metadata tracking system where the number ofversions used to represent an item in any number of scopes is bound totwo. Without this efficient metadata, adding an item to a scope meansadding another version to represent the item in that scope, which wouldincrease as the number of scopes an item lives in increases, which wouldimpact system performance and scalability. As the number of applicationswith large volumes of data that benefit from synchronization grow, a wayto efficiently represent synchronization metadata across differingsynchronization scopes will be useful to consumers of such a system.

In one embodiment, the solution can also include automation tools thatallow this metadata tracking technique to easily be applied to a SQLServer database, i.e., by abstracting the details of how this metadatais stored and updated in a SQL database away from the specification ofapplicable scopes. The various embodiments can also include a way torestore a database from backup and update its metadata after restoresuch that synchronization can continue correctly and the correctversions are maintained.

Efficient Knowledge Representation and Exchange

In this section, an overview is presented of a general mechanism forefficiently representing knowledge in data synchronization systems in amulti-master synchronization environment in accordance with variousnon-limiting embodiments, to show how the two versions for CREATE/UPDATEfor data items, as described above, are synchronized within a largersynchronization framework that synchronizes without regard toapplication specific details or data types.

The general mechanism includes (1) an efficient exchange of knowledgebetween connected devices by requiring only the minimum data used by afirst node from a second node to be sent, (2) the ability to efficientlyand correctly recognize disagreements over the state of data, e.g.,conflicts, between a first node and a second node, (3) the ability tosynchronize an arbitrary number of nodes and (4) the ability tosynchronize any node via any other node, e.g., the ability to work in apeer to peer, multi-master synchronization environment.

With the general mechanism, any number of changes can be made to someinformation that is to be shared between the two devices. At any timethey become connected, by exchanging their knowledge with one another,they become aware of at least the minimum amount of information used toreconstruct what each other knows and doesn't know to facilitate ofchanges between the devices. It is noted that where more than twodevices are involved, knowledge may be incomplete knowledge of a greaterbase of information to be shared, but as more knowledge is shared aroundthe multiple devices, collective knowledge continues to be accrued bythe devices as they connect to the other devices over time.

Advantageously, in various non-limiting embodiments, the inventionoperates to perform synchronization for a set of devices, or, asdescribed below, a subset of devices, any interested in maintaining thelatest versions of a set of objects, but also allows such devices tocome into connection and out of connection with the other objects of theset. Whenever a device comes back into connection with other device(s)of the set of devices via one or more networks, the device regainscollective knowledge that is as up to date as the other device(s)represent with their collective knowledge. In this fashion, even looselyconnected devices may come into and out of contact with a set ofdevices, and then relearn the knowledge missed by coming into contactwith any set of devices that possess the latest set of collectiveknowledge.

FIG. 9 illustrates that knowledge exchanges are generalizable, orscalable, to any number of devices. As shown, four devices 900, 910, 920and 930 are shown with knowledge representations 902, 912, 922 and 932that respectively indicate what each device knows and doesn't know abouta set of common information to be shared across the devices.

Advantageously, as shown by FIG. 10, even where connections in thenetwork become disconnected, a complete set of knowledge can nonethelessbe gained by the devices 900, 910, 920, and 930, as long as at least oneconnection directly or indirectly exists to the other devices. Forinstance, as shown, knowledge 932 of device 930 still reaches device 900via the knowledge exchange with device 920, then via the knowledgeexchange between device 920 and 910, and finally via the knowledgeexchange between device 910 and 900.

With more devices sharing knowledge about common information to beshared, the devices benefit because knowledge exchange(s) in accordancewith various non-limiting embodiments of the invention of the inventionare agnostic about from which device collective knowledge comes. Thedevices each independently operate to try to gain as much knowledgeabout information to be shared among the devices from any of the otherdevices to which it is connected.

In exemplary non-limiting detail, a method is described in furtherdetail for two nodes to engage in a conversation and at the end of theconversation to have equivalent knowledge for the concerned data set.The method is scalable beyond two nodes by creating a knowledge exchangecapability for each new device entering the peer-to-peer network.

Thus, as shown in FIG. 11, node 1100 of a peer-to-peer network havingany number of nodes wants to exchange data with Node 1110. Node A beginsby requesting changes from Node 1110 and in order to do so Node 1100sends its knowledge (represented as K_(N1100)) to Node 1110 as shown.

Knowledge of a device or node is represented by labeling each object tobe shared among devices with a letter identifier, and then the trailingnumber represents the latest version for this object. For instance,K_(N1100) as shown in FIG. 11 includes objects A, B, C and D each to besynchronized between nodes 1100 and 1110, and the number following eachof the objects represents the latest version of the object known on thedevice. For instance, knowledge K_(N1100) at a time t=1 includes the5^(th) version of A, the 4^(th) version of B, the 7^(th) version of C,and the 1^(st) version of D, notated as A4, B3, C6, D0 in FIG. 11. Incontrast, knowledge K_(N1110) of node 1110 at a time t=1 may include the4^(th) version of A, the 7^(th) version of B, the 7^(th) version of C,and the 3^(rd) version of D, notated as A3, B6, C6, D2 in FIG. 11.

As shown in FIG. 12, at time T=2, node 1110 compares knowledge K_(N1100)received from node 1100 against its own knowledge K_(N1110) anddetermines what is to be sent to node 1100. In this example, as aresult, node 1110 will send node 1100 the changes relating to B and Dsince node 1100's knowledge of B3, D0 is behind node 1110's knowledge ofB6 and D2. When node 1110 sends node 1100 the changes between B6 and B3,and the changes between D2 and DO, it also sends along the latestversion of knowledge K_(N1110) it has (reflecting whenever the lastchange on node 1110 was made).

As shown in FIG. 13, representing time t=3, sending knowledge K_(N1110)to node 1100 allows node 1100 to detect conflicts (e.g., store them forlater resolution) if it later finds out that both node 1100 and node1110 made a change to an object while they were on the same version.This allows for autonomous updating, efficient enumeration, but alsocorrect conflict detection when the nodes meet and exchange changes. Forinstance, in the example, if C6 is not the same object in both knowledgeK_(N1110) and K_(N1110), e.g., if both independently evolved from C5 toC6, then which C6 is the correct C6 can be set aside for conflictresolution, e.g., according to pre-set policy resolution that befits thesynchronization scenario and devices involved.

An exemplary knowledge exchange process between any two nodes of adistributed multi-master synchronization environment using the abovedescribed general mechanism is shown in the flow diagram of FIG. 14. At1400, node A requests synchronization with node B, thereby asking node Bfor changes node A does not know about. In order to equip node B, at1410, node A sends its knowledge to node B. At 1420, node B compares theknowledge received from node A with its own knowledge to determine whatchanges node B knows about that can be sent to node A. At 1430, node Bsends such changes to node A, and in addition, node B sends itsknowledge to node A so that node A can perform a similar knowledgecomparison at 1440.

At 1450, node A detects any potential conflicts between latest versionsreflected in the knowledge of node B and latest versions reflected inthe knowledge of node A, in the event that independent evolution ofversions has occurred on node A and node B. Optionally, any conflictresolution policy may be applied to determine which node trumps theother node in the event of a conflict. At 1460, the latest changes fromnode A that are not possessed by node B are sent to node B. The conflictresolution policy will additionally dictate whether any changes are sentfrom node B to node A, or node A to node B, to maintain commoninformation between the nodes. If independent versioning is OK, ordesirable, no conflict resolution is another option.

FIG. 15 illustrates the generalized mechanism for exchanging knowledgewhen filtered knowledge is possible, i.e., where a subset of a node'sknowledge is to be synchronized with one or more of the other nodes. Asshown, each replica A and B has provider PA and provider PB,respectively. In this regard, each replica A and B maintains knowledgeK_(A) and K_(B), respectively, and potentially also maintains filteredknowledge F_(A) and F_(B). Similar to the case with no subsetting, anyof the replicas can request changes 1570 of another replica and receivechanges 1580 in response to the other replica conveying changes. If thefiltered knowledge F_(A) and filtered knowledge F_(B) are of the samescope, then as with the generalized knowledge exchange:

K _(A) =K _(A) ∪K _(B)

If the filtered knowledge F_(A) and filtered knowledge F_(B) are not ofthe same scope, then instead the knowledge is a function of existingknowledge plus the knowledge of the other replica as projected onto theintersection of their respective Filters F_(A) and F_(B), as follows:

K _(A) =K _(A)∪(K _(B)→(F _(A) ∪F _(B)))

Among other applications, an exemplary, non-limiting application forthese types of filters is for filtering columns, or any change units ofa synchronization framework. This is particularly applicable sincecolumn changes are not likely to be subject to move operations in thesystem. There are two considerations for this scenario worth noting:filter representation and knowledge consolidation.

With respect to filter representation, filter representation for thecase of no move filters is as follows. Each filter is represented as alist of the change units contained within the filter. Thisrepresentation provides a convenient means of representation as well asthe ability to combine filters when necessary. The ability to combinefilters is useful for consolidating knowledge.

With respect to knowledge consolidation, in order to keep knowledge inits most concise form the ability to consolidate knowledge must bemaintained. In this regard, fragments of filtered knowledge can beconsolidated so that knowledge can be maintained in its most compactform.

Considering the ability to combine filters, since filters can berepresented as a set of change units, overlaps in filters can bereconciled by isolating the sets of change units that exist in bothfilters.

Also, since the vector for a filter applies to each of the individualchange units within the filter, the combination of the filters can beperformed by finding the combined vector for the change unit for eachchange unit in both filters. Then once the vectors are known, the changeunits that have a common vector are recombined into a new filter.

Accordingly, the notion of knowledge can be used to efficientlyrepresent data for knowledge exchanges among multiple nodes of amulti-master synchronization network, any node of which mayindependently evolve common information, or subsets of commoninformation, to be synchronized across the nodes. As described in moredetail below, the above-described knowledge based framework isextendible to a multi-master synchronization environment including thetwo versions for create/update metadata as described herein for variousembodiments.

Exemplary Networked and Distributed Environments

One of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that the variousembodiments of cross-scope synchronization and corresponding metadatadescribed herein can be implemented in connection with any computer orother client or server device, which can be deployed as part of acomputer network or in a distributed computing environment, and can beconnected to any kind of data store. In this regard, the variousembodiments described herein can be implemented in any computer systemor environment having any number of memory or storage units, and anynumber of applications and processes occurring across any number ofstorage units. This includes, but is not limited to, an environment withserver computers and client computers deployed in a network environmentor a distributed computing environment, having remote or local storage.

Distributed computing provides sharing of computer resources andservices by communicative exchange among computing devices and systems.These resources and services include the exchange of information, cachestorage and disk storage for objects, such as files. These resources andservices also include the sharing of processing power across multipleprocessing units for load balancing, expansion of resources,specialization of processing, and the like. Distributed computing takesadvantage of network connectivity, allowing clients to leverage theircollective power to benefit the entire enterprise. In this regard, avariety of devices may have applications, objects or resources that maysynchronize across different scopes as described for various embodimentsof the subject disclosure.

FIG. 17 provides a schematic diagram of an exemplary networked ordistributed computing environment. The distributed computing environmentcomprises computing objects 1710, 1712, etc. and computing objects ordevices 1720, 1722, 1724, 1726, 1728, etc., which may include programs,methods, data stores, programmable logic, etc., as represented byapplications 1730, 1732, 1734, 1736, 1738. It can be appreciated thatobjects 1710, 1712, etc. and computing objects or devices 1720, 1722,1724, 1726, 1728, etc. may comprise different devices, such as PDAs,audio/video devices, mobile phones, MP3 players, personal computers,laptops, etc.

Each object 1710, 1712, etc. and computing objects or devices 1720,1722, 1724, 1726, 1728, etc. can communicate with one or more otherobjects 1710, 1712, etc. and computing objects or devices 1720, 1722,1724, 1726, 1728, etc. by way of the communications network 1740, eitherdirectly or indirectly. Even though illustrated as a single element inFIG. 17, network 1740 may comprise other computing objects and computingdevices that provide services to the system of FIG. 17, and/or mayrepresent multiple interconnected networks, which are not shown. Eachobject 1710, 1712, etc. or 1720, 1722, 1724, 1726, 1728, etc. can alsocontain an application, such as applications 1730, 1732, 1734, 1736,1738, that might make use of an API, or other object, software, firmwareand/or hardware, suitable for communication with or implementation ofthe cross-scope synchronization and corresponding metadata provided inaccordance with various embodiments of the subject disclosure.

There are a variety of systems, components, and network configurationsthat support distributed computing environments. For example, computingsystems can be connected together by wired or wireless systems, by localnetworks or widely distributed networks. Currently, many networks arecoupled to the Internet, which provides an infrastructure for widelydistributed computing and encompasses many different networks, thoughany network infrastructure can be used for exemplary communications madeincident to the cross-scope synchronization and corresponding metadataas described in various embodiments.

Thus, a host of network topologies and network infrastructures, such asclient/server, peer-to-peer, or hybrid architectures, can be utilized.The “client” is a member of a class or group that uses the services ofanother class or group to which it is not related. A client can be aprocess, i.e., roughly a set of instructions or tasks, that requests aservice provided by another program or process. The client processutilizes the requested service without having to “know” any workingdetails about the other program or the service itself

In a client/server architecture, particularly a networked system, aclient is usually a computer that accesses shared network resourcesprovided by another computer, e.g., a server. In the illustration ofFIG. 17, as a non-limiting example, computers 1720, 1722, 1724, 1726,1728, etc. can be thought of as clients and computers 1710, 1712, etc.can be thought of as servers where servers 1710, 1712, etc. provide dataservices, such as receiving data from client computers 1720, 1722, 1724,1726, 1728, etc., storing of data, processing of data, transmitting datato client computers 1720, 1722, 1724, 1726, 1728, etc., although anycomputer can be considered a client, a server, or both, depending on thecircumstances. Any of these computing devices may be processing data,forming metadata, synchronizing data or requesting services or tasksthat may implicate the cross-scope synchronization and correspondingmetadata as described herein for one or more embodiments.

A server is typically a remote computer system accessible over a remoteor local network, such as the Internet or wireless networkinfrastructures. The client process may be active in a first computersystem, and the server process may be active in a second computersystem, communicating with one another over a communications medium,thus providing distributed functionality and allowing multiple clientsto take advantage of the information-gathering capabilities of theserver. Any software objects utilized pursuant to the techniques forperforming cross-scope synchronization can be provided standalone, ordistributed across multiple computing devices or objects.

In a network environment in which the communications network/bus 1740 isthe Internet, for example, the servers 1710, 1712, etc. can be Webservers with which the clients 1720, 1722, 1724, 1726, 1728, etc.communicate via any of a number of known protocols, such as thehypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). Servers 1710, 1712, etc. may alsoserve as clients 1720, 1722, 1724, 1726, 1728, etc., as may becharacteristic of a distributed computing environment.

Exemplary Computing Device

As mentioned, advantageously, the techniques described herein can beapplied to any device where it is desirable to perform cross-scopesynchronization and maintain corresponding metadata. It should beunderstood, therefore, that handheld, portable and other computingdevices and computing objects of all kinds are contemplated for use inconnection with the various embodiments, i.e., anywhere that a devicemay wish to synchronize data. Accordingly, the below general purposeremote computer described below in FIG. 18 is but one example of acomputing device. Additionally, cross-scope synchronization andcorresponding metadata can include one or more aspects of the belowgeneral purpose computer, such as display or output of the data beingsynchronized via the display 1850.

Although not required, embodiments can partly be implemented via anoperating system, for use by a developer of services for a device orobject, and/or included within application software that operates toperform one or more functional aspects of the various embodimentsdescribed herein. Software may be described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by one or more computers, such as client workstations, serversor other devices. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that computersystems have a variety of configurations and protocols that can be usedto communicate data, and thus, no particular configuration or protocolshould be considered limiting.

FIG. 18 thus illustrates an example of a suitable computing systemenvironment 1800 in which one or aspects of the embodiments describedherein can be implemented, although as made clear above, the computingsystem environment 1800 is only one example of a suitable computingenvironment and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to scope ofuse or functionality. Neither should the computing environment 1800 beinterpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating to any oneor combination of components illustrated in the exemplary operatingenvironment 1800.

With reference to FIG. 18, an exemplary remote device for implementingone or more embodiments includes a general purpose computing device inthe form of a computer 1810. Components of computer 1810 may include,but are not limited to, a processing unit 1820, a system memory 1830,and a system bus 1822 that couples various system components includingthe system memory to the processing unit 1820.

Computer 1810 typically includes a variety of computer readable mediaand can be any available media that can be accessed by computer 1810.The system memory 1830 may include computer storage media in the form ofvolatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) and/orrandom access memory (RAM). By way of example, and not limitation,memory 1830 may also include an operating system, application programs,other program modules, and program data.

A user can enter commands and information into the computer 1810 throughinput devices 1840. A monitor or other type of display device is alsoconnected to the system bus 1822 via an interface, such as outputinterface 1850. In addition to a monitor, computers can also includeother peripheral output devices such as speakers and a printer, whichmay be connected through output interface 1850.

The computer 1810 may operate in a networked or distributed environmentusing logical connections to one or more other remote computers, such asremote computer 1870. The remote computer 1870 may be a personalcomputer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or othercommon network node, or any other remote media consumption ortransmission device, and may include any or all of the elementsdescribed above relative to the computer 1810. The logical connectionsdepicted in FIG. 18 include a network 1872, such local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), but may also include othernetworks/buses. Such networking environments are commonplace in homes,offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet.

As mentioned above, while exemplary embodiments have been described inconnection with various computing devices and network architectures, theunderlying concepts may be applied to any network system and anycomputing device or system in which it is desirable to synchronize dataacross different synchronization scopes.

Also, there are multiple ways to implement the same or similarfunctionality, e.g., an appropriate API, tool kit, driver code,operating system, control, standalone or downloadable software object,etc. which enables applications and services to use the cross-scopesynchronization and corresponding metadata. Thus, embodiments herein arecontemplated from the standpoint of an API (or other software object),as well as from a software or hardware object that implements one ormore aspects of the cross-scope synchronization described herein. Thus,various embodiments described herein can have aspects that are wholly inhardware, partly in hardware and partly in software, as well as insoftware.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example,instance, or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the subjectmatter disclosed herein is not limited by such examples. In addition,any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarilyto be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects ordesigns, nor is it meant to preclude equivalent exemplary structures andtechniques known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, tothe extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “contains,” and othersimilar words are used in either the detailed description or the claims,for the avoidance of doubt, such terms are intended to be inclusive in amanner similar to the term “comprising” as an open transition wordwithout precluding any additional or other elements.

As mentioned, the various techniques described herein may be implementedin connection with hardware or software or, where appropriate, with acombination of both. As used herein, the terms “component,” “system” andthe like are likewise intended to refer to a computer-related entity,either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, orsoftware in execution. For example, a component may be, but is notlimited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, anobject, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or acomputer. By way of illustration, both an application running oncomputer and the computer can be a component. One or more components mayreside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component maybe localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or morecomputers.

The aforementioned systems have been described with respect tointeraction between several components. It can be appreciated that suchsystems and components can include those components or specifiedsub-components, some of the specified components or sub-components,and/or additional components, and according to various permutations andcombinations of the foregoing. Sub-components can also be implemented ascomponents communicatively coupled to other components rather thanincluded within parent components (hierarchical). Additionally, itshould be noted that one or more components may be combined into asingle component providing aggregate functionality or divided intoseveral separate sub-components, and that any one or more middle layers,such as a management layer, may be provided to communicatively couple tosuch sub-components in order to provide integrated functionality. Anycomponents described herein may also interact with one or more othercomponents not specifically described herein but generally known bythose of skill in the art.

In view of the exemplary systems described supra, methodologies that maybe implemented in accordance with the described subject matter will bebetter appreciated with reference to the flowcharts of the variousfigures. While for purposes of simplicity of explanation, themethodologies are shown and described as a series of blocks, it is to beunderstood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is notlimited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur indifferent orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what isdepicted and described herein. Where non-sequential, or branched, flowis illustrated via flowchart, it can be appreciated that various otherbranches, flow paths, and orders of the blocks, may be implemented whichachieve the same or a similar result. Moreover, not all illustratedblocks may be required to implement the methodologies describedhereinafter.

In addition to the various embodiments described herein, it is to beunderstood that other similar embodiments can be used or modificationsand additions can be made to the described embodiment(s) for performingthe same or equivalent function of the corresponding embodiment(s)without deviating therefrom. Still further, multiple processing chips ormultiple devices can share the performance of one or more functionsdescribed herein, and similarly, storage can be effected across aplurality of devices. Accordingly, the invention should not be limitedto any single embodiment, but rather should be construed in breadth,spirit and scope in accordance with the appended claims.

1. A method for synchronizing a set of objects between a node of aplurality of nodes and at least one other node of the plurality of nodescommunicatively coupled via one or more networks, where at least twodifferent synchronization scopes apply to at least two different nodesof the plurality of nodes, comprising: determining first versioninginformation for at least one object of the set of objects pertaining toa synchronization scope applicable to a set of nodes of the plurality ofnodes where the at least one object at least one of changed or wascreated, and determining second versioning information for the at leastone object applicable to at least one synchronization scope of at leasta second set of nodes other than the synchronization scope; andsynchronizing the at least one object of the set of objects between thenode and the at least one other node including determining whether tobase the synchronizing on the first versioning information or the secondversioning information.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thesynchronizing includes synchronizing based on the first versioninginformation if a present scope of the synchronizing between the node andthe at least one other node is the same as the synchronization scopeapplicable to the set of nodes where the at least one object at leastone of changed or was created.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thesynchronizing includes synchronizing based on the second versioninginformation if a present scope of the synchronizing between the node andthe at least one other node is different than the synchronization scopeapplicable to the set of nodes where the at least one object at leastone of changed or was created.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thesynchronizing includes determining if the synchronization scope of thefirst versioning information represents that the at least one object atleast one of was changed by, or was created on, the node.
 5. The methodof claim 4, wherein the synchronizing includes synchronizing based onthe second versioning information if the determining yields that the atleast one object at least one of was changed by, or was created on, thenode.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the determining includesdetermining if a synchronization scope identification of the firstversioning information or second versioning information is none or null.7. A method for defining metadata for synchronizing among a plurality ofdevices and according to different synchronization scopes for differentsets of devices of the plurality of devices, comprising: defining firstversioning information for data of a first community of devices thatchanged the data under conditions of a first scope defined for the firstcommunity of devices; defining second versioning information for thedata for other devices of the plurality of devices that are outside thefirst community of devices; and synchronizing the data among at leasttwo devices of the plurality of devices based on at least one of thefirst versioning information or the second versioning informationdepending on a present scope of synchronization applying to the at leasttwo devices.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the defining of the firstversioning information includes defining created versioning informationfor the data applicable to a created scope in which the data wascreated.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein the defining of the firstversioning information includes defining updated versioning informationfor the data applicable to an updated scope in which the data wasupdated.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein the defining of the secondversioning information includes defining created versioning informationfor the other devices.
 11. The method of claim 7, wherein the definingof the second versioning information includes defining updatedversioning information for the other devices.
 12. A node connectable toa plurality of nodes via one or more networks and configured tosynchronize a set of data items between the node and at least one othernode of the plurality of nodes, comprising: a synchronization componentconfigured to synchronize the set of data items between the node and theat least one other node and configured to synchronize at least one dataitem of the set of data items according to at least two differentsynchronization scopes applying to at least two different groups ofnodes of the plurality of nodes and encompassing the at least one dataitem, the synchronization component including: a synchronizationcommunications component configured to initiate synchronization with theat least one other node via a synchronization protocol that defines,independent of data type, metadata structure for a knowledge exchangebetween the at least one other node and the node, configured to transmitto the at least one other node a request to synchronize with the atleast one data item within scope for the at least one other node basedon the synchronization protocol and configured to receive externalknowledge of the at least one data item within the scope for the atleast one other node and corresponding versioning information from theat least one other node, wherein the metadata structure for theknowledge exchange includes versioning information for the scope for theat least one other node and versioning information for nodes outside thescope; and a synchronization analysis component configured to updatelocal knowledge of the at least one data item represented on the nodeand corresponding node versioning information by comparing the externalknowledge of the at least one data item and the corresponding versioninginformation from the at least one other node with the local knowledge ofthe at least one data item and the corresponding node versioninginformation to determine what changes to reflect in revised localknowledge of the at least one data item and the corresponding nodeversioning information.
 13. The node of claim 12, wherein the metadatastructure for the knowledge exchange includes created versioninginformation for a created scope in which the at least one data item wascreated.
 14. The node of claim 13, wherein the created versioninginformation includes a created node version corresponding to a creatingnode that created the at least one data item in the created scope. 15.The node of claim 13, wherein the created versioning informationincludes a local node version based on a created node versioncorresponding to a creating node that created the at least one data itemin the created scope and applicable to nodes of the plurality of nodesoutside the created scope.
 16. The node of claim 12, wherein themetadata structure for the knowledge exchange includes updatedversioning information for an updated scope in which the at least onedata item was most recently updated.
 17. The node of claim 16, whereinthe updated versioning information includes an updated node versioncorresponding to an updating node that updated the at least one dataitem in the updated scope.
 18. The node of claim 16, wherein the updatedversioning information includes a local node version based on an updatednode version corresponding to an updating node that updated the at leastone data item in the updated scope and applicable to nodes of theplurality of nodes outside the updated scope.
 19. The node of claim 12,wherein the synchronization analysis component is further configured toanalyze the external knowledge of the data items and the correspondingversioning information from the at least one other node with the localknowledge of the data items and the corresponding node versioninginformation to determine what second changes to send to additional nodesof the plurality of nodes about which the additional nodes do not know.20. The node of claim 12, further comprising a metadata managementcomponent configured to at least one of tombstone or delete the portionsof the versioning information from the local knowledge.
 21. The node ofclaim 12, wherein the synchronization protocol does not prescribe anyschema of the actual data being synchronized between the node and theWeb service node.